Shares in Flowers Foods slipped in early trading in the US today (6 February) after the US bakery giant’s fourth-quarter earnings – and its guidance for 2014 – were under Wall Street forecasts.
Flowers reported a 0.5% increase in adjusted net income to US$38.8m for the 12 weeks to 28 December. Adjusted net income per diluted share was $0.18, matching last year’s level.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
According to Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Jonathan Feeney, the consensus forecast among Wall Street was for $0.19 a share.
Looking ahead to 2014, Flowers has forecast earnings per share of $0.98 to $1.05. Feeney said Wall Street had estimated $1.07 a share.
Shares in Flowers were down 1.47% at $19.50 at 11:02 ET.
Fourth-quarter adjusted EBIT was down 4.4% at $57.6m thanks to costs linked to acquisitions.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataNet sales were up 12.6% at $843.6m. Acquisitions contributed 2.7 percentage points of the growth, price/mix 3.6 points and volumes 6.3 points.
Annual net income jumped 35.1% to $192.3m. Adjusted EBIT grew 32.8% to $228.1m. Annual sales were up 23.1% at $3.75bn.
Flowers has forecast sales of $3.98-4.13bn for 2014, an increase of 6-10%.
